Even the Good Girls Will Cry: A '90s Rock Memoir

Montreal in the early 1990s serves as the unlikely launching pad for Melissa Auf der Maur's journey through the heart of alternative rock. What begins as a scrappy local music scene transforms when a chance encounter leads to an opening slot for the Smashing Pumpkins, catching Billy Corgan's attention. Soon she finds herself recruited into Hole during one of rock's most turbulent moments, joining Courtney Love's band in the immediate aftermath of Kurt Cobain's death and the loss of their previous bassist. The memoir charts her passage through a decade defined by raw emotion, creative ferment, and the last gasp of analog music culture, with figures like Dave Grohl, Michael Stipe, and Rufus Wainwright woven throughout.

Auf der Maur narrates her own story, and the difference is palpable. Her voice carries the weight of someone recounting lived experience rather than performing a script, lending the account an intimacy that print cannot replicate. The 13-hour runtime rewards patience, unfolding at the unhurried pace of genuine memory.